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# Tremere Certámen Techniques

#### by Mark D F Shirley

The copyright of this article remains with the original author. Articles may be copied or distributed freely for personal non-profit use, provided that the author is properly credited.

It is well-known that House Tremere excel in the use of Certámen, the Hermetic method of resolving disputes. It cannot be through mere practice that the Tremere have got so good.

Listed here are a number of tricks used by House Tremere to get an edge in Certámen. They are all named after particular combat moves. They are only taught by House Tremere, and never to outsiders. Most members of the Order are unaware that these tricks exist - they were developments of the theory of certámen devised by Tremere and Quaertus, Bonisagus's first apprentice, but largely invented by Tremere and never entering the corpus of knowledge about the technique.

The tricks are listed in ascending order of difficulty. To learn each trick, a minimum level of the Certámen skill is required, as listed below. One also needs a teacher who is prepared to impart these skills to a pupil - a parens will never teach these skills to a former apprentice, else it would be too easy for them to win their sigil, thus it is very rare for a magus to start the game with one of these skills. Members of House Tremere must seek out another mentor within the House, who will often demand payment in the form of political support, with perhaps the use of the pupil's sigils for a period of three, seven or nine years. Once payment as been settled, the pupil must devote time with his or her mentor, learning the certámen trick. This counts as gaining experience points through Training (p. 187 of the Ars Magica rulebook), and the same rules apply - the master must have a score in certámen of at least three levels higher than the pupil. This season of training is not exclusive - both pupil and master can spend time doing other things, but at least one day a week must be dedicated to training, resulting in -3 to all lab totals. Frequently, the pupil wastes an entire season in this training, because they have had to travel to the covenant of the master, where they have no laboratory to work in. Training a apupil like this can also gain the master experience points, accoring to the Practice Rules (p. 187 of the Ars Magica rulebook).

Once the pupil has accumulated experience points equal to the minimum certámen score for the technique, then they have learnt it. For example, to learn Riposte which requires a minimum Certámen score of 5, they must accumulate 5 experience points.

Characters who have faced Tremere using these techniques in certámen, or who have watched a duel in which they are used, can anticipate the attacks if used against themselves. They can be identified with a Per + Certámen of 9+, 12+ if the magus is currently engaged in a duel. Tremere need not roll to spot techniques that they know themselves, but must roll to spot other tricks. Those who have never seen them in use will probably fall to them easily.

Note that only one trick can be used in any given round of Certámen except Shield, which can always be used. Note that the Attack bonus referred to below is the Int + Certámen + Technique + Form + Carry-over Advantage made by both opponents; the Weaken roll is the Int + Certámen + Advantage; and the Soak roll is the Sta + Certámen toal.

     Minimum   Name and description
     Certámen

        2      Shield: This trick allows the Tremere to fashion a
               phantasmal shield to sap the strength of their opponent's
               attack. They may subtract a number of points less than or
               equal to their Certámen score from their Attack bonus each
               round to add to their Soak total.

        2      Drive: If the Tremere gains an advantage in an attack, he
               may add two to the attack in the subsequent round regardless
               of whether he uses the advantage as a carry-over bonus or
               attempts to weaken his opponent.

        3      Desperate Defence: By using this trick a Tremere can elect
               to lose a Body Level instead of a Fatigue Level. Only one
               Fatigue Level can be exchanged in this way in any round, but
               this may be enough to prevent the Tremere from going
               unconscious.

        4      Great Blow: before making an attack roll, a Tremere can
               subtract points up to twice his Certámen score. If the
               attack is still successful, he gets a bonus to his Weaken
               total equal to 1½x the points he subtracted from his attack
               (round down). Thus he sacrifices skill for power.

        5      Riposte: By foregoing an attempt to weaken an opponent after
               an advantage is gained, a Tremere can attempt to redouble
               his next attack roll. He must make an Int + Certámen stress
               roll with an ease factor equal to 3 + half the advantage he
               already has. If this riposte roll is successful, he can add
               the amount by which he made the riposte roll to his next
               Attack total, in addition to the advantage initially gained.
               If the riposte roll fails, his carry-over advantage becomes
               zero.

        6      Feint: the Tremere makes two attacks. The first uses his
               Technique and Form total plus any carry-over advantage and a
               stress die; the second just uses his Int + Certámen total,
               with no die roll. Both attacks must attempt to weaken his
               opponent. If this opponent fails to notice the second sneak
               attack (Per + Certámen, as detailed above), it goes
               unopposed, and the opponent must apply his Soak total to
               this second attack as well. If the sneak attack is noticed,
               the it fails automatically. Note that the first attack does
               not need to be successful for the second attack to succeed.

        7      Pummel: When making a roll to weaken his opponent, a Tremere
               can split the Weaken total into a number of attacks less
               than or equal to his Certámen score. For example a weaken
               bonus of +12 (Certámen 7) can be split into 4 attacks of +3
               each; or 5 attacks of +2 and 2 attacks of +1. Each one has a
               stress die added to it, and is compared against the Soak
               total of the opponent (make one roll, and apply to all
               attacks). This multiplicity of attacks can weaken an
               opponent rapidly. However, should the Tremere using pummel
               botch any one of his rolls to weaken, he gains a number of
               botch die equal to the number of Weaken rolls made.

        8      Main Gauche: This trick is an enhanced version of the Feint
               trick. The whole Attack bonus of the Tremere can be split
               into two, which may or may not be of equal size. A stress
               die is added to each. A Tremere who knows this trick can
               divide his own attack bonus to face each attack against him,
               otherwise the opponent has to choose which attack to defend
               against (assume that he has seen both, see above). The
               advantages gained from both attacks are added together to
               determine the strength of any attempt to weaken, or to work
               out the carry-over advantage.